ricerocket38

Looking to get new tires and rims for my civic. Suggestions? budget = $3-4k

persiano

Really depends on what you are looking for in the rims and the tires in addition to what your car setup is currently. Is the car lowered? By how much? Do you want a set of 17's or smaller ?

I personally think the JDM look works on all civics, I would spend that cash on a sexy set of Enkei Classics and some fat tires maybe a bit of camber in the back. As for tires, if you want something for grip or comfort again you have many options.

Might help to look around on the web if you don't have a clear pereference

Hope this helps

ricerocket38

Thanks! I'm going to go around to some rim stores and check out some different brands, but I just want a few brands to know and research. I know to stay away from cheap reps. And that's what I want to do. I'd rather spend money on good rims and tires and not end up with half a rim while driving down the highway. Nor do I want to get ripped off either. That's what I'm concerned about.
What brand Tires are good? Hankook are making good tires I hear. Do you suggest those?

ricerocket38

My son will be 18 soon and for his birthday I'm secretly fixing up this Civic for him. My wife and I got him an old Toyota Corolla to beat up and we saved up money for a nice little used Civic. So I'm looking for the rims, tires and seat covers for his car.

persiano

Hey you are awesome parents ... I remember when my dad fixed up a nice little Lancer Coupe for my birthday when I was 19 and I can tell you he will remember it forever ...

As for the rims and tires, I suggest getting a set of branded 15 inches since they will not be too big and heavy to hurt fuel economy or the ride & suspension but give good looks and stability.

My all time favorites on the Civic is the Enkei Classic 92 Gold or Silver (depending on taste)



Or the Enkei RPF1 - These are super light and very good looking



The Rota Slipstream is also fantastic and very much popular



AS for the tires, I myself am running Goodyear and very happy with the grip and the low noise levels it produces, but then you have many options. But I highly recommend not going beyond 16" diameter for the rim, as for tire size I would not go beyond 195/60 or 195/50, since less tire wall means a more harsh ride, and increases the chance of suspension and rim damage in case of a puddle or bad roads. I would also buy a nice set of lowering springs (nothing too extreme, maybe 1 to 2 inches lower than stock)or maybe a nice set of coil-overs if you can spare that to make the package more awesome. Again, lots and lots to chose from like H&R, Eibach, Koni,etc. Lots of good info on this site and others as well about that.

I guess with 3-4K budget that you put you can probably buy a good set of tire and wheel combo + suspension as well

Good luck and post pics as well when you are all done

ricerocket38

Thanks. He's listened and done well in school and he's taken very good care of the crappy corolla we gave him. We wanted him to start off with a car he can bang up and learn in...but he really surprised us when he was trying to take care of it and maintain it as well as he has. He has been trying to tutor kids and make some money to save up for a car for himself. Would you believe a 17 year old even parks the car perfectly and there's no rash on the rims?
So I found a used 09 Civic for a steal. Car fax was clean and only 1 owner and 60k miles! We paid cash $5k for it. The old owner just got a divorce and was trying to get rid of it so she could move out of state.

He has NO idea. It's sitting at my buddy's place and my son is not allowed in the garage. I'll let my son brag to his friends about it, I won't take pictures of it on my phone just incase that smart *** goes through it.

Only problem is, the old owner was a smoker so I'm trying to get that stale smoke smell out of it and I want to put on some seat covers. We are looking to drop 8k total in fixing it up for him.

Would you have any suggestions on some great custom seat covers?

persiano

To get the smell out, change out the cabin filter, have the car interior including carpets, seats, and all the nooks and crannies completely washed and use those smell removing powders for an even finer finish. Also you can leave the AC running with windows down for some time to let all the smell out of it. Maybe use car AC sprays to remove the smell from inside the vents and pipes.

As for the seat covers, I suggest buying a set of front Recaro seats or original Civic SI or type R sport seats as they would probably cost as much as the custom made seat covers and will look and feel 10,000 times better, rear seats rarely matter, so some basic autozone covers which you can probably fit easily will do.



Also a nice headunit, amp, speakrs, subwoofer combo installed in a reputable place with good wires and cables (I would go all out Pioneer on everything) would be the icing on the cake.

Once you are done with interior, suspension, rims, and sound system, final touches would be a complete Wash + Polish was detail+ Engine Detailing which will also make the 60k miles look like 6k miles.

Then make sure you take a video of him seeing the car for the first time (in landscape mode)

You sound like a proud father with a very smart son ... he deserves it and I bet he will feel amaaazing

Good luck and let me know if you need any more ideas , I am all up for this and the idea is getting me all hyped up

ricerocket38

I was thinking about the seats, but no. We decided against them so we are going to go with seat covers. Well, let me rephrase that, the wife said no. I've actually been looking online about different companies and I came across a small company in Los Angeles named Decor Auto. I'm still researching that company to see if they can do what I want.

Stereo. Oh my god I forgot about that! When I was younger I was blasting my music too! Maybe a new head unit, no amp or sub. Just upgrade his current speakers. If I go with a huge makeover on his stereo then his trunk will need to have a new liner so it doesn't rattle. But if he starts bumping his music very loud and disturbs the neighbors....well, I'll have to come yell at you when my wife makes me sleep outside with the dog. And I don't want to, you're giving me some great ideas.

I'll ask the wife if she will record it, I will be out of the country for about 3 months when he's going to get it and we are going to be skyping. I'm not too interested in the moment, I'm more interested in his happiness. He's a great kid and we were in a very bad neighborhood. He could have fallen into drugs or gangs but didn't. Then I landed a great job and we finally got out of the ghetto. He deserves the best we can give him.

Now, you're talking about detailing, I know to stay away from Armorall but what good products should I use to wax?

And the smell, should I just take it to get everything taken out and cleaned out? We've left the windows open and my buddy took it out and blasted the air as long as he could for a few days in a row and it's still in there. I think it's in the seats so he suggested we try to deep clean the seats and see if it comes out. Would you have any idea on how to do that? Can I just get the same equipment to use on in home carpet? Do you think that would work?

Pier7866

Great that you guys are doing this for your kid, cleaning stuff that work best on any carpet or cloth material is Tuff Stuff at any store like Meijer, Walmart, or any auto accessory store such as auto zone, advance auto parts etc. it work really well for polish use nuefinish its great and stay on for a long period of time. I buff/polish my car every Sunday to keep it clean and free off any road debris. Also change cabin filters to keep the car fresh smelling from inside. For Wheels if you like you can get factory 15" five spoke wheels that comes on 04 05 civic ex you can find a set for fraction of a price those wheels will take tires of 195 60 R15 which is a factory recommendation. Or if you are looking for some aftermarket wheels discount tires runs some decent wheels as well. Hope this help and good luck with the surprise!!!

ricerocket38

How do you guys feel about a clear bra? There's no real big dents in the front but you also bring up a good point about the debris.

Pier7866

Well if you could get your hands on a half mask it would help I don't know what year is your civic if it is 01 03 there is a sight HandAaccessories.com that sells those half masks most year are discontinues but you can find some out there, the reason oem is because it looks good plus provide the needed protection to your paint you can actually get the whole front mask that covers the front bumper and the tip of the hood as well so if you do have some scratches on the front bumper that will cover it too. There is also a weathertech bug shield that is available and looks good on the front hood when installed. I am myself is a big time oem (genuine) parts and accessories guy so I always buy original stuff. Hope this help.

dweesb

Seat covers...
I was thinking along the same lines to swap out the seats but the thought of dealing with the airbags turned me right off. I came across a site, pinkcaraccessoriesshop.com.
You can custom design the covers to color match, even put a logo, name or script. Listed at $99 for both front seats. More for any added logos and such. They do the back seat for $115, but I'm doing a cheapo Walmart or Amazon for the back. The description sounds like the same as the stock cloth seats. Worth checking out.
As for the stereo head unit... I suggest something touch screen, double din. The surround that fits the dash can be found on Amazon. I don't recommend the DVD option... just sounds like a recipe for trouble with "The Man". I did find a few that are a receive only, with aux, Bluetooth, USB and SD card inputs, because who really carries around CDs anymore? Also, the benefit of these is they are only 2"-3" deep, which means you could fit a small power amp behind it inside the dash.
Good luck.

ricerocket38

it's a 2009. And you guys are giving me such great ideas. Thank you all!! Keep them coming! And if possible, perhaps suggestions of locations in either San Diego or Los Angeles would be great too.

Has anyone had experience with seat covers from this company www.decorauto.com ???

thetut

For the cigarette smoke issue, I recommend that you find a local detailer that has an ozone machine and have them run it in the car for a few hours.

ricerocket38

What if I hold off on the rims for now, and get them later. See if he will take care of the stock rims for a few months and then I go with him to pick out rims? I'm not sure what he will like.

ricerocket38

ozone machine. Only specific detailers carry this machine?

ricerocket38

If I can find this and it works, I'm totally in the market for a bromance, if you are. We've had the car for about 4 months and for the love of god the smell just won't go away. Even with daily doses of fabreeze.

I need the smell to be gone before I can get in there and drive more than 5 minutes, let alone handing it off to my son.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

09? you are in the wrong section. Moving to right one... you are in teh 01-05 cars section, so the tire/rim suggestions might not apply...

ricerocket38

I'm sorry about that and thanks for moving it for me. Hopefully these guys can still give me suggestions though! I'm almost running out of time.

ricerocket38

Going with seat covers, what do you think about this? https://www.decorauto.com/product/neosupreme/

I'm thinking silver and black. Or blue and black.